Dear members,
You were recently informed of the Agency‘s decision (set out in the Office Notice dated 6.11.19) to amend the rules on mandatory breaks. The problem lies in the fact that this measure applies only to Maastricht administrative staff.
This unequal treatment is contentious for a number of reasons, in particular the failure to consult the representatives of all staff at each of the sites and the unfounded and illegitimate discrimination introduced by the measure.
The US made its views known at the consultation meeting on 9.12.19 (the minutes will be published at the beginning of January). Today, USB and USEF sent the Director General a joint letter setting out their legal opinion and demanding that this unequal treatment be remedied immediately (see attachment – EN version will follow).
In order to avoid the proliferation of administrative measures arising from the submission of individual complaints, we propose joining forces and lodging a single collective complaint from all USB members to set up this flexitime issue at Eurocontrol. This will allow you to avoid having to carefully monitor your own individual complaint with all its complex procedures and mandatory deadlines.
We are nevertheless, approaching the end of the year, obliged to respect the deadline of 6.2.20 for lodging the complaint. This is why in the coming days we will be sending you a form to fill in to join the pre-litigation procedure, which will be initiated mid-January if our management does not resolve the problem between now and 16.1.20 (3rd consultation meeting).
If you decide to join the collective action, you will be kept informed in good time of how the case is progressing and will be given precise instructions to follow at each stage. If the internal complaint is rejected, we will then be able to lodge a single collective complaint with the Administrative Tribunal.
We’ll see you in January as already planned.
We take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With our best wishes for 2020.
